
Scorpions’ Claws and Stingers Harbor Metals, Study Finds
A Smithsonian-led study analyzing 18 scorpion species finds metals, especially zinc and manganese, are embedded in their pincers and stingers and vary by species in a way that reflects an evolutionary trade-off between durability and leverage; the research, using electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence, suggests metal enrichment is widespread among scorpions and lays groundwork for broader comparisons and future questions about diet and gender differences, with the findings published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.







